On Fandom Confessions and Blogs

Everyone has secrets that they wish they could tell to someone confidentially. But often there's no one to tell safely. Sometimes friends and family are just too close or it would be too embarrassing to tell someone you interact with regularly. That's why people go to therapists or contact anonymous hotlines. It's liberating to simply get it off your chest without any fear of judgment.

If you've been following this blog at all, it should be unsurprising to learn that such behavior persists in a fandom environment. Fans frequently want to reveal their desires, opinions, and experiences. These confessions just deal with fandom related content and tend to collect on blogs specifically created for them.

People use such spaces to anonymously confess for any number of reasons and the responses vary greatly. To use a Dragon Age blog as an example,

Some deal with the mundane:

 Give an unpopular opinion that the user might fear being harassed over:

Explain an embarrassing mistake or misunderstanding:

Relate the original media to their daily life:

Reveal a very personal part of themselves:

Or virtually any other reason. There's no reason to worry. They're all anonymous!

If you follow any of the links, one of the first things you'll notice about the blog is the set of loose rules in the about box on the side. These guidelines are further explained in a separate page. Despite its anonymously submitted content, there is some methodology that keeps the tumblr from running completely into anarchy. It's a relaxed sort of moderation, almost anything goes, but it keeps drama, hostility, and abuses to a minimum. It keeps a level of civility.

For example, one rule states that:

Under no circumstance will confessions relating to hate speech about a particular out of game (or some in game) race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, or any other be published.  They will be deleted from our inbox without comment.

Such guidelines keep the blog as a safe space. Potential submitters will not be run off because of racist, misogynistic, anti-semitic, or any other sort of hate speech derived content. Anyone and everyone is welcome to participate, regardless of their identity or background. It keeps users from pointedly targeting other users or groups. The rules simply help to enforce this healthy environment. While they're not universally applied to every confession blog, similar guidelines are found on almost every popular one.

If there's a confession to be had, there's a method available. For almost everyone. Including fans.